OCCUPY THE CINEMAS Day of Action: March 2, 2012

Are you ready to take a stand and tell the powers that be that you want a free Internet and more fair copyright provisions?

Are you ready to join the Occupy Movement and “reclaim our voices and challenge our society’s obsession with profit and greed by shutting down the corporations”?

Inspired by Occupy Portland’s February 29 “Shut Down the Corporations” Day of Action, we call on people to Occupy the Cinemas on Friday, March 2nd, and show Hollywood and the Motion Picture Association of America that you are AGAINST its lobbying for draconian anti-Piracy legislation (i.e. SOPA); its restrictive, secretive and double-standard Ratings system; its monopolization of world movie markets and suppression of independent cinemas; and its massive, manipulative advertising machine that forces movies down our throats:

On Friday, March 2nd, boycott Hollywood “product” and support a non-corporate film instead.

By supporting Hollywood films, we are feeding the conglomerates that are trying to restrict our freedoms; by consuming their entertainments, we are paying the bills of the lawyers who trying to limit the freedoms of the Internet and fair use. Let’s not follow along like lemmings. Let’s fight back.

In the original Occupy Wall Street Adbusters blog post, there is a quote from Raimundo Viejo, from Barcelona’s Pompeu Fabra University. Here it is again as a potent reminder of the power of the people—and the consumer:

“The antiglobalization movement was the first step on the road. Back then our model was to attack the system like a pack of wolves. There was an alpha male, a wolf who led the pack, and those who followed behind. Now the model has evolved. Today we are one big swarm of people.”

How many of us go out to the movies during a single Friday in America, and how many of us spend our dollars on movies that are fed to us as what to see rather than what we want to see?

Think of the difference we can make if we all band together, if we mobilize our friends, parents, grandparents, kids, uncles, aunts, babysitters, teachers, waiters, bartenders, baristas to avoid the March 2nd new Hollywood releases “The Lorax” and “Project X” and see any number of non-corporate films that will be out in theaters that Friday: Jafar Panahi’s “This Is Not A Film,” Taika Waititi’s “Boy,” Bruno Romy’s “The Fairy,” Murat Duzgunoglu’s “The Salt of Life,” Lise Birk Pedersen’s “Putin’s Kiss,” Joshua Marston’s “The Forgiveness of Blood,” Oren Moverman’s “Rampart,” and Bela Tarr’s “The Turin Horse,” among others. We can tell the massive conglomerates that we, the consumers, are in control and we don’t agree with their efforts to restrict what sorts of films we want to see and where we want to see them.

On March 2nd, we want to see tens of thousands of people flooding into art-houses and independent movie theaters across the country, abandoning cineplexes, supporting their local communities, and saying no to corporate entertainment.

In the words of OWS: “It’s time for DEMOCRACY NOT CORPORATOCRACY, we’re doomed without it.”

Spread the Word. Tell your friends. Make the Pledge and Sign the Petition. March 2nd is the night we move towards a more democratic cinema.

This Day of Action is inspired by:

Shut Down the Corporations Day:
http://www.shutdownthecorporations.org/?page_id=30